St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-03-12

t
overthrown by small sorrows, does not
our common sense teach US that we can
not stand up against great ones! If we
can not carry pound, can we carry one
thousand pounds? If we are discounted
coming into battle with one regiment, a
! brigade will cut US to pieces. If we are
| unfit to cope with one small trial, won't
we be overcome by greater ones! If
the footmcn ara too much for us. Won'tth e
odds be more fearful against t1s when we
contend with horses: | thank God that
some of his dear children have been de-
| livered How was it that Paul could say !:
'Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor,
yet making many rich; having nothing,
yet possessing all things:n And David,
| the psalmist, scars up into the rock of
| Gods strength and becomes thoroughly
composed amid all his sorrows. saying:
| God is our refuge and strength, very
| present help in the time of trouble;
| therefore will not we fear though the
earth be removed. though the mountains
| be cast into the midst of the sea, though
! the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof. Selah."
But my text suggests something IN ad-
vance of any thing l have said. We must
all quit this life. However sound our
| health may be, it must break down; how
ever good our title may be to houses,
| land and estates, We must surrender them
We will hear q voice bidding us away
| from all these places. We will have to
start on pilgrimage from which we can
never come back. We will have seen for
the last time the evening star and watch
ed the last summer cloud. and felt the
breath Of the spring winds for the last
time. Hands of loved ones may be
stretched out to hold us back, but they
can not-go we must. About all other
exits and changes We may trit1e, but not
about this. Stupenlous moment of
life-quitting. Oh, when the great
tides of eternity arise about US,
and fill the soul and surround it,
and sweep it out toward rapture or
| woe, ah, that will be the swelling of Jor.
DAMP / know people sometimes talk
very merrily about the departure from
this life. am very sorry to hear It, But
men DO make fun of the passage from one
world to another Byron joked great
deal about it, but when it came he shiv-
cred with horror. Many an lntidel has
scoffed at the idea Of fearing future
world, but lying upon his pillow in the
last hour his teeth have chartered with
terror saw, in Nestminste ter Abbey, an
epitaph WHICH a poet ordered to be put
upon his sonfb:
Life is a jest.
And all things show It.
thought so once,
But now I know it.
thought how inapt that, in place of
sepulchre, men should try their witticisms.
A great German having rejected Christ,
in his last moment said: 'Give me light,
give me Ightn Oh, we may be smart
with our W-tticism about the last hour;
but when /: comes and the tides are rising,
and the S llf is beating, and the winds are
bowling, we will each one, my brethren,
find for himself that it is "the swelling of
JOrdann' Our natural courage won't hold
out then. however familiar we may have
been with scanes of mortality, however
much we may have screwed our courage
up, we want something more than natural
resources.
When the northeast wind blows off
from the sea of DEATH it will put
out all earthly lights. The lamp of
the gospel, God-lighted, is the only
lamp that can stand in that blast. The
weakest arm holding that shall not be
confounded; the strongest one rejoicing
that shall tumble and die. When the Jor
dan rises in its wrath, the first dash of its
wave will swamp them forever. We feel
how sad it is for a man to attempt this life
without religion. We see what doleful
thing it is for a man to go down into the
m isfortunes of life without Christian
solace; but if that be so, how much more
terrible when that man comes face to face
with the solemnities Of the last hour! Oh,
if in the bright sunshine of health and
ny rarit1y m falt the ppa1 of
thing better, how will he feel when the
shadows of the last houf gather above his
pillow? If, in the warmth of worldly
prosperity, he was sometimes dismayed,
how will he feel when the last chill creeps
over him? If while things were compare
lively smooth he was disquieted. what
will he do in the agonies of dissolution?
If. in the land of peace in which thou trusted,
they wearied thee, what wilt thou do amid the
swelling Of JordanS
oh, rejoice to know that so many of
Gods children have gone through that
pass without shudder. Some one said
to dying Christian:
Isn't it hard for you to get out Of this
world!"
''Oh, no. he says, sit is easy dying; it
is blessed dying; it is glorious dying"
And then he pointed to'a clock on the
wall and said:
'sThe last two hours in which have been
dying have had more joy than all the
years of my life.''
A general came into the hospital after
the battle, and there were many seriously
wounded, and there was one man dying,
and the General said:
All, my dear fellow, you seem very
much wounded. I am afraid you are not
going to get we'll"
'sNo,' said the soldier, ~ am not going
to get well, but 1 feel very happy"
Oh, 1 have seen Them and so have you,
go out of this life without a tear on their
cheek. There was weeping all around
the room, but no weeping in the bed; the
into darkness; they were lifted up. We
saw the tides rising around them, and the